Friend brings Edinburg soldier's body home

Published October 10, 2007
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer

Army Spc. Sean Card had to go back a second time to say goodbye to his friend.

The first time 45 minutes after Army Cpl. Benjamin Charles Dillon was pronounced dead Sunday in northern Iraq Card and 35 comrades filed past the soldier who had been killed from insurgent small-arms fire.

''I put my forehead on top of his, and I told him I loved him,'' the 21-year-old Card said.

''I told him I was going to take him home.''

And so on Friday, Card and the body of fellow Ranger Dillon arrived on a charter flight at Akron-Canton Airport, the last leg of the long trip home.

Calling hours for the 22-year-old from Portage County's Edinburg Township will be from 1 to 7 p.m. today at his alma mater, Southeast High School at 8423 Tallmadge Road in Palmyra Township.

Services are scheduled at the high school at 1 p.m. Sunday, with burial at Edinburg Cemetery on state Route 14.

When the charter jet arrived Friday, family and friends were waiting, along with more than 20 Rangers from 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, of Fort Benning, Ga. Dillon and Card's unit and base.

Card said Friday that after saying his initial goodbye at the hospital in Iraq, he felt he needed to go back one more time to be with his friend.

So he re-entered the hospital and spoke to him one more time. ''I told him I loved him again,'' Card recalled.

Card described his friend, a 2004 graduate of Southeast High, in admiring terms.

Both entered the Army in September 2004.

''He was about as simple as you can imagine,'' said Card, of Bunnell, Fla.

''He enjoyed everything. I am more of a pessimist. He is always, 'Well, look at it this way,' or he'd make a joke about it or show me the bright side of it.''

He said his friend didn't like to spend money lavishly he would glue his glasses together when they would break and refused to spend $13 a month on cable TV.

Instead, Card said, he used rabbit ears on his television and was happy with the bad reception when he watched golf on weekends.

''He was real savvy with his money,'' Card said.

His dream, Card said, was to buy a house near his family parents, brothers and other family members live on Stroup Road in Edinburg Township.

''He talked about his family,'' Card said. ''He held them close to his heart.''

The sad journey for Card involved plane trips from Iraq to Kuwait, then to Germany, then to Dover, Del., before the final flight to Akron-Canton Airport on Friday.

On part of the trip home, Card said, he slept beside the casket.

''We were buddies,'' he said.

He said that even though he didn't meet Dillon until the Army, he felt as if he had grown up with him.

He said Dillon always talked about wanting to wait to get married and have a family until he got out of the Army.

''He always talked about how perfect his childhood was,'' Card said.

''He wanted to give his children the same perfect childhood he had.''

Card and Dillon were on four Middle East deployments together.

''I've never been more upset,'' Card said. ''Even at the loss of family members. I don't know how to explain it. I feel like I lost a brother more than just a friend.''

Card said that when he was with his friend after he was pronounced dead last Sunday, he told him something else.

''I told him I would see him on the other side,'' Card said. ''But I may need some help getting in.''

Capt. Chad Fleming, operations officer for the 3rd Battalion, 75th Regiment, said Dillon was ''just a great American. . . . Everybody loved him around the unit.''

Dillon's family has requested that in lieu of food or flowers, donations be made at any KeyBank branch to the Benjamin C. Dillon Memorial Scholarship Fund at Southeast High School.